This is a source, archive and place to discuss Journalism and PR. Hopefully it will address questions on the nature of news, the role of journalism in our view of the world and the impact of PR on the news agenda. Do we get the news we deserve? Or the news we need to know? This isn't just a site for paranoid academics or their students - contributions are also welcome from professionals in journalism and PR or anyone with something to say about the world as presented through the headlines.

Monday, March 31, 2008

This is one of those ‘brass tack’ pieces of advice that should be obvious. But it is surprising how often a potentially good news story falls at this particular hurdle.

If your press pack makes the right impression and your journalist decides to run with the story, they may well wish to contact you. Even if the news release is comprehensive, there may be a number of questions they will want to ask, if only to provide them with a unique angle. The journalist may simply be looking for reassurance that the story is still viable, that there haven’t been any new developments – and that you are who you say you are.

Therefore, it is vital that your news release offers good channels of communication between the journalist and yourself. The first thing an interested journalist is likely to do is pick up the phone. So (obvious point) include a phone number. It should also be obvious to include a phone number of someone who knows about the story.

Here are some more points about the phone number that should also be self-evident:

Who will answer when the phone rings? Are they qualified to talk to the media on your behalf? Can they respond to journalists’ requests for interviews, photo-calls or background information? Are they even aware that their name and number has been provided to the media?

If it’s a mobile number, can you rely on the phone being switched on, able to pick up a signal or be answered in circumstances in which a clear conversation can take place? If the answer to any of these is no, you can increase the journalist’s chances of successfully following up the story by providing a choice of numbers to call.

Will the caller end up with a voicemail message? If so, will you actually pick it up and call back, preferably while the story is still of interest?

Is this an office-hours only number? Don’t assume the journalist only works 9 to 5, especially if he or she is freelance.

Will the caller know who they’re talking to? Any number should be supplied with a name (preferable a protagonist in the story, such as a person who has been quoted) and position.

The follow-up phone call by the journalist is proof that your story has sparked an interest. It’s also an opportunity to turn one of many news items into the one that gets special treatment. Human contact between a PRO and a journalist is always preferable to a piece of paper, no matter how well-written the press release may be.

Many websites and textbooks on media relations techniques make the point that it should be you, the sender of the press pack, who makes the follow-up phone call. This puts more pressure on the journalist to do something with your story and again adds that human touch to the ‘routine’ news release. Not everyone agrees with this tactic and anyway, the chances are that you won’t reach the person you want to speak to and will end up leaving a message – so all the above advice about good contact details applies.

While we’re on the topic of contact details that actually work – never give email addresses that bounce or web site addresses that don’t actually take you to any website. More obvious points? Hmm - you’d think so.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Sending out a standard press release to several news organisations can be an effective way of spreading your story quickly. However, it does put the onus on editors to find a unique way of telling the story so that it does not duplicate text that appears in rival publications.

There is a long-running debate on whether PROs should be ‘spoon-feeding’ stories to hard-pressed and understaffed newsrooms and most journalists do take pride in being able to produce an engaging and original story. Offering an exclusive angle on the story could encourage better coverage and prominence.

This does not mean producing individualised press releases to different news media, but it may be worth including the standard press release in customised press packs. The packs might also include exclusive interview opportunities or specially selected photographs.

Some basic research of targeted news media might suggest different angles appropriate for each. If one newspaper tends to focus on human-interest stories, you could offer some background material on how the story affects an individual family. If a local radio station’s output includes business reports, why not include a brief fact sheet on market profiles and profit forecasts.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Following on from #10, journalists respond better to people they know and like. Even if you are not on first-name terms with recipients of your news releases, you should at least indicate you know their name. A press release addressed to ‘the Editor’ or, even worse a guessed title (e.g. ‘Entertainments Editor’ of a newspaper that doesn’t employ anyone with that job title) is likely to get binned, shredded or passed on to the least competent person in the newsroom to write about you.

Knowing the name of your journalist doesn’t guarantee sympathetic coverage however. There are numerous media contacts databases that you could subscribe to obtain up-to-date names of journalists for every publication imaginable, such as MediaDisk, FeaturesExec and Gorkana.

The downside of these is that they can encourage PR people to send out multiple copies of press releases to hundreds of ‘named’ journalists in the hope that one or two of them might actually use the story. This approach might work for spammers but take my word for it – journalists do not take kindly to finding their inboxes cluttered up with emailed press releases sent by PR people who haven’t done their research.

The late Douglas Adams may have loved the whooshing sound that deadlines make as they fly by, but this is a pleasure you have to forego if you want the news media to run your story.

Journalists are slaves to deadlines and the obvious piece of ‘brass tack’ advice here would be to get your information to journalists on time. But how much time do you give them?

If a story is big enough, you can get it to break on live radio within minutes of emailing or faxing your news release. If you want the story to be included in an entertainments page of a regional weekly newspaper, you may have to send them your news two weeks in advance.

There are two formulae that apply to deadlines. These are:

1. The bigger the story, the less time it will take news organisations to process it. They will want to be first with the news, even if it arrives a short time before their deadline.

2. The less time you give to journalists, the more important it is that the information you give them can be processed quickly.

This latter point could work to your advantage. A well-phrased press release that arrives just before the deadline could appear exactly as you wrote it – but that’s assuming that the editor is expecting the story and is willing to run it at all. That’s the risk you have to consider.

If at all possible – and especially if you are dealing with news organisations on a regular basis – get to know them. Find out about their usual working practices and accommodate them as much as possible. In time, as you build up a reputation as a reliable and regular supplier of good, easy-to-process news items, the editor may feel more confident that your stories can be processed quickly – and indeed give you positive coverage even if your organisation is having a bit of a reputation crisis.

But woe betide any PR person who does not take seriously the fact that journalist have deadlines. Your reward could be extreme vilification and overall damage to the reputation of PR as a reliable source of information.

I won’t bore you with the technical details but simply make the point that a well-composed photo is useless to the media if the quality of the image is poor.

Before you send a photo to a newspaper or magazine, zoom in on a detail of the shot. Does the image still look sharp and clear? If not, the chances are that the publication will not be able to use the image.

A high-resolution image does not have to be a huge file. Indeed, many reputable media organisations still have computers that crash if you try to email them megabytes of imagery. It is possible to send a photo of, say, 500kb that will look great on newsprint.

Click here for a website that offers a good explanation of how this works.